Forgiveness: Our Path to Enlightenment

26 Dec 2014

Forgiveness and Acceptance

Forgiveness is the key to life and the path to awakening.

Forgiveness is the key to life and the path to awakening and while there are many facets to forgiveness, the main points are the ability to forgive both ourselves and others. This can be difficult as society has, in the main, focused on the inner ego. This ego has shaped humanity into a world of greed, judgment and negativity as materialistic, competitive values take credence over kindness and peace.

Accepting the judgement of others and the inner judgments made by you, applying forgiveness and a total acceptance of nature and people in their raw form will loosen the lock to life and the path to awakening.

Forgiveness to Oneself

To fully accept and love yourself, you firstly have to forgive the mistakes and ineptitude of the past. This self-realisation or awareness allows you to face the inner actions of events, both positive and negative, stored in the mind and then fully accept and embrace every aspect of the past.

We have all made mistakes in our past and we have all unintentionally hurt people we love through actions, thoughts, words or deeds. These actions and thoughts are then succeeded by inner turmoil and self-punishment where we then spend our time subconsciously carrying out random acts for the people we have hurt in the hope of forgiveness or inner retribution. However this inner-retribution will not be solved by acts of kindness as joyful as they are; retribution will be given when we ultimately forgive ourselves. Until this happens we will continue to seek forgiveness externally and the motives for the acts of kindness to others will not be altruistic, they will be driven by the force of the inner ego.

Forgive the Mistakes of the Past

Accept the Past

To accept the past and forgive any lingering regrets you may have, will not happen in an instantaneous, magical moment, yet the process will be reflective and therapeutic. Face the moments in your past that currently weigh you down with negativity and self-hatred and accept the place you were in and person you were at that point in time. Now look to who and what you are now and know that you have the choice to tarnish this new present with the person you were in that past or choose the alternative which is to accept, reflect, then focus on the person with the values of the present and actually work on improving what you are now.

Once you have relinquished the negativity of the past, you will find that the facets of enlightenment are a road less rocky.

Forgiveness to Others

The hurt and bitterness that has been caused by the actions of others can actually affect YOU more than the instigator. Carrying the burden of negativity to a person for a long time after the precipitate action just serves to prolong the agony of the pain that was initially caused. This pain and hurt tends to close the mind and create a barrier to your ability to fully embrace life with a clear heart and inner peace.

Think about the action and the pain it has caused already, not just to you but to the instigator and the people in your circle. Does the significance of the action warrant the hurt and misery that follows? That hurt and misery is easily spread through your emotional energy and so the pain can actually become greater than the cause.

The feeling of relief, lightness and inner peace that comes with the act of forgiveness will ultimately allow your heart and mind to open up to the positivity of life and the universe. What a different type of emotional energy to pass on to others!

Remember:

If we don’t forgive ourselves and others we remain burdened and closed and forever seek forgiveness externally.

When we DO forgive ourselves and others, we open our minds and hearts, fully embrace the true awareness of the moment and awaken ourselves to a deeper spirituality.

What ways have you forgiven yourself and others? We would love to know!